Green Eyes
by Andrea Christoph
Summary: Only one refused to rest, pulled through time and from dreams, and only one follows Sin rather than run- easy when you have nothing to lose. His story is a tragic one filled only with death and loneliness...and the shining green eyes of hope. *Aurikku*
1. PROLOGUE

**GREEN EYES  
****PROLOGUE**

Ten entire years.

Truth be told, I had managed to immerse myself in my duties so thoroughly that I somehow forgot the flow of time, but that happens when one is dead. It certainly helped that the boy was so much trouble- some would call it 'outgoing', I feel that the word places too positive a spin on it -and that I had my fair share of situations to deal with. Most were inconsequential, of course: acting the father and attending the boy's sports matches, comforting the mother when she yet again fell sick upon forgetting to eat and, finally, dealing with the outbursts and tears after her frail body finally received it's desired rest.

I always wryly smiled when he would yell at me and stomp away yet again. It reminded me of why I had refrained from marriage or children.

But things were different tonight. He would be on his own, and knowing this worried me. His battles were often fought by others, the byproduct of becoming a near-celebrity. How would he fare dealing with the onslaught I knew was coming?

No matter. I would find out soon enough. I cast my gaze warily to the horizon, out over the waters of Zanarkand. There was no movement yet. I then turned my head back to the cheers of the stadium, the sound of the horn as yet another point was received and wondered briefly if he knew I wasn't there. Most likely. He found it hard to play unless we fought before a match, he'd told me once. His anger toward me gave him strength.

I stepped up onto the railing before me and slowly crossed out onto the steel buttress now supporting my weight. The wind was stronger away from the shelter of the build's exterior shell and the force of it against my heavy wool coat was near enough to knock me down to the streets below. Not that it would have ultimately mattered with my current state of health.

And now, the wind changed. It carried on it a scent of death and each touch brought with it a hint of electricity on the air. Then, almost imperceptibly, the waters changed. They began to churn, and then eventually rose in height. I swallowed deeply, my mouth going dry, remembering the pain this creature had caused to millions in my homeland. This was no pilgrimage. This was a return home.

It neared the docks, tearing through them quickly like toothpicks, tearing apart the boy's home in no more than a second. There would be no going back.

I turned to face the creature, already heading back into the building now that I had my confirmation. I paused briefly and sipped from the jug of acrid alcohol I carried with me always (to dim the pain of wounds, though others would tell you differently), then held it towards him. Sin. Our punishment eternal.

"Welcome back, old friend," I murmured to the air as I took a gulp of the liquid. It burned as it went down and I stepped down from the buttress to make my way to the stadium, my laughter echoing through the empty halls and then fading as the sound of destruction overtook it.


	2. Chapter 1: SIN

**1. SIN  
**

The weight of both swords, one slung loosely from my waist and the other balanced on my shoulder, weighed me down and made walking through the crumbling streets a slower process. The people of Zanarkand fled from Sin as it bore down upon them, their screams sharply ending as they either fell from the walkway that was elevated hundreds of feet in the air or were pierced by the creatures that detached themselves from the main body and extended their scythe-like arms through any flesh nearby.

Around me buildings began to churn and crumble as some invisible force pulled them toward Sin's body. The very water on the ground was beckoned by him and I myself would have followed were it not for the weight of the heavy, yet necessary, swords that I now carried. I quickened my pace, rounding each corner in the twisting streets until I finally came to stop before the stadium.

He was there. No tears. Good boy.

In an instant he noticed me, and where anger would have previously flashed there was now only relief. I was his guardian, after all. I smiled. Once a guardian, always a guardian.

The relief in his eyes disappeared as he laid eyes on Sin, on the cause of all of the disorder and fear, and simultaneously one of the barbed spawn slammed with impressive force into one of the two statues overseeing the stadium gates. It tilted, a loud creaking moan heard even overtop of the panic, and began to fall directly overtop where he stood on the stairway.

"Tidus, move!" I snarled, dropping my sword and dashing forward. He reacted too late, instead looking up at the mass of stone bearing down on him and had the gall to be surprised as I buried my shoulder in his stomach, gripped his waist and threw us as far forward as I could manage. The immense statue missed by mere inches, raising dust all around us. I pushed the boy away and got to my feet.

"What's happening?" he asked, his voice somewhat higher than usual. There were cuts- due to shrapnel, no doubt -littering his skin, marring the flesh on his cheeks and legs and making him look far more injured than he actually was. I often found myself forgetting how soft and fragile he could be, whether it was after a scrap with myself that ended in a sharp backhand or after a particularly violent game where he'd walk in with a sharp limp and fire in his eyes at the loss.

There was no fire in his eyes now. Only fear. I reached down and, gripping his arm, pulled Tidus to his feet. He gave me a look of _What now?_

I opened my mouth to speak and was cut off by the opposite statue now collapsing as the force from Sin pulled it away from it's base. Tidus was quick enough this time to dash down the stairs, vaulting over stone and bodies alike. He paused only in safety and only at the sound of his fellow teammates now leaving the stadium.

"Go back!" he shouted at them, but the noise was too great. Just out of range of the fallen statue, I stood by as they repeated what Tidus had done just moments ago. But this time there would be no guardian to save them; I was but one man and could only watch as the statue fell further and crushed them beneath it, a few escaping it only to shriek in pain as it crushed half their bodies. I could only imagine the agony- trapped beneath immeasurably heavy stone and being pulled upwards toward Sin simultaneously.

Tidus's eyes widened and he turned to run, pausing only when he stumbled to his knees and retched. I left the fallen where they lay as there was nothing I could do for them and yet again hauled Tidus to his feet. He followed me in a daze and stumbled as I made my way through the streets with a hand ever present on his back. I looked once more to Sin and smiled. The very sky was on fire. It would be soon.

We stood on a crumbling street moments later. Sin was only minutes behind us. I thrust the orange and black sword into the boy's hand and closed his fingers around the hilt. Taken off guard, the blade hit the ground and he struggled to keep a grip on it.

"Why?" was all he asked. I smiled and pulled the edge of my cowl downward, removed my ever present glasses. He deserved that at least.

"You'll need it." The blade flickered in his hands, or perhaps that was a reaction to being so close to the one who had possessed it so many years ago. "It was your father's."

Tidus looked stunned and then just as quickly glared, but before he could open his mouth to refuse it the road crumbled away beneath him. To his credit he kept a grip on the sword, but at the expense of a hand hold, and I caught him by the shirt only seconds before he would have fallen to his death.

"Auron, it's too close," he called, his voice drowned out by the proximity of Sin and the world falling apart around us. I could feel the glow, the hazy greeting from somewhere deep inside the monster. It grew to almost a burning pain as I hoisted the boy upwards, in view of the many-faceted eyes that bore into us deeper than any gaze I had ever felt.

"Auron!" Tidus yelled again and I watched as he screamed and writhed in my hands as his body slowly dissolved into a million shining lights that gently reunited with the flames and were no more. His scream faded and left only the cacophony of destruction. I could hear only silence.

And then the fire overtook my body, burning around me and yet not leaving a mark. A grip on my hand, there but not there, voices in my ear I couldn't make out. The road fell from beneath me and I was distinctly aware of not falling. The distance grew hazy, but I watched in slight sadness as Zanarkand burned, crumbled and was no more.

The silence became deafening then as Sin completed his work. He paused and gave a loud cry of despair, the moan of a wounded animal who could find no rest.

_Thank you, friend. It is time for you to go home._

And then, nothing.


	3. Chapter 2: SPIRA

**2. SPIRA**

I awoke drowning.

My lungs burned for air and I thrashed about, my bearings lost and no idea whether I was facing the sky or the ground. I opened my eyes and could see I was just below the surface of the water and with one upwards push I broke through to air.

Sweet merciful air, air that I could not breathe and yet needed all the same. I often reflected on how strange it was that despite being dead and gone, an unsent creature could react the same as a living one. Pain, emotions, injuries. All still existed. But all would not kill you.

My knees touched ground and I crawled forward, out of the surf and into warm, comforting sand that I had not felt in at least a decade. Forgetting the metallic coldness of Zanarkand all at once, I lay back on the beach with my face to the sun and, for the first time in 10 years, smiled with genuine joy.

Spira.

Home.

I lay there for some time, letting the water soak my legs again and again as it surged upwards across the sand. For the first time since I had died I felt, ironically, so completely alive.

"Hey! You! Get off my beach!"

I tilted my head to the left and saw a small child, no more than ten years old at the most, glaring in my direction with both hands on her hips and her lip stuck out in an almost comical way. I sat up, leaning back on both hands. "Your beach?"

The girl nodded and stepped forward, still keeping up her angry facade. It was all I could do to keep from smiling as I kept up my own facade of petulance.

"That's my house," she stated, pointing to a hut a few meters away, "and so that means this beach is mine."

"Ah." I stood then, watching as she skittered back a few feet upon seeing my height, and nodded to her. "Apologies for my trespassing."

The girl narrowed her tiny blue eyes, this time in curiosity. She squinted at my face, then asked, "Are you a guardian?"

Guardian. A term I had heard only from myself since leaving Spira. It shocked me to hear it.

But then, it should not have. I had soared through dreams for some distance alongside Sin, and with me brought the end of a Calm and the start of a new age of pain and suffering. I had brought death to this place.

"No." I walked forward, passing her, and realised with some annoyance that she followed.

"But you look just like-"

"-a shipwrecked man from Bevelle," I cut her off, turning to look at her. She saw my one eye then, torn and scarred shut, let out a tiny 'meep' and nodded quickly. I sighed and pushed my glasses higher to hide the injury and knelt beside her.

"You should run home."

Another quick nod. I sighed once more. Children were difficult to deal with no matter what the issue, and I'd never been comfortable around them. "Where are we?" I asked more gently, forcing my mouth into a twisted half smile.

Her shoulders relaxed and she stated, with some pride, "Kilika." And then, as an afterthought, she bowed to me, spreading both arms wide, and the placing both palms together. The prayer of Yevon. "Welcome." The whole act seemed artificial with her doing it, as if she were merely acting in a way she had been taught. I half expected 'Yevon be praised you are safe!' to come shrieking from her much in the way half of Spira would cry out at such inappropriate times, but she merely stood there smiling at me, a look of _I done good_ on her tiny face.

I tousled her hair gently. "Run home." And with that last exchange I turned my back on her, knowing that there was no doubt she would be lucky to see her next birthday, knowing that if I never learned her name I would never grow attached to a memory of a life snuffed out so young.

Kilika. And, nearby, Luca.

I could only hope the boy was safe.

* * *

Nearly a day later, the first boat came into Kilika harbor. Though I stood at the dock for at least an hour, I caught no sight of his honey blonde hair through the crowd of tanned dockworkers. One of these dockworkers informed me of their route taking a turn to Luca just in time for the Blitzball tournament.

I knew I had to be on the boat the instant the sport was mentioned. Not only was Luca the central hub of all of Spira and it's trade, even more so than Bevelle, but Tidus could never keep away from his sport. If he had survived, it was where he would go.

Ticket paid for with the rest of the liquid anesthetic at my hip, I boarded the ship a day later for my week long journey to Luca.

I had not spent much time there in my youth, most of my energy devoted to the study of Yevon and preparing myself for the day I could perhaps guide a Summoner to Zanarkand. I had no time for the trivialities of recreation, friends, women. I was dedicated to my duty, and I did it well.

But having been there, as an outcast warrior monk and as a guardian of Summoner Braska, I had found myself in a haze of sounds, sights, smells- an overwhelming of every sense that left me dazed and out of my element. And not even the fast paced lifestyle of Zanarkand had ever managed to live up to the sheer life that Luca offered in it's many eateries or market stalls.

Three days into my journey- three days spent sleeping, bartering for Spiran currency and asking a variety of people questions of the history of Spira in the past ten years -I stepped outside into the open air once more and made my way to the head of the ship.

Spira was as I remembered, but somewhat more...fragile. People carried on as if there were no problems, but each smile was strained, each laugh shaky. Gone was the glory of summoners marching off to death. All that remained was fear and sorrow, perpetuated by that which I had brought back to them. They kept praying, and in turn Yevon continued to betray them.

And such was the way of Spira. A cruel, ironic story with no end.

My gaze drifted. To the Northeast there was a blur of movement, a haze over the water. It was heading the direction we had left from, the direction of Kilika.

"Sin..." I heard whimpered from where the other passengers sat in the shade. Slowly the shout grew and soon half of the passengers were crowded on deck, leaning over the guard ropes and shouting and pointing fingers and...it was all so futile. I remained the only one impassive. The only one who knew what would take place, and would continue to take place until the first Summoner reached Zanarkand and did what Braska had already futilely done.

The sea seemed to flow against itself, then, gravitating in the direction of Sin. I could see over the water a tidal wave gathering itself to him. He would reach Kilika within a few hours and bring with him death.

Gritting my teeth in anger, pushing the image of the young girl on the beach from my mind, I turned in one move and strode back to my cabin and to the few days of peace I would have left.


	4. Chapter 3: ANIMA

**3. ANIMA  
**

The sun shone as our ship pulled into Luca port, but none on board bore any semblance of a smile. There were grim expressions and tears surrounding me. The grief was suffocating. The offloading ramp had been connected for only a few seconds before I forced my way to the front of the group and descended onto the boardwalk.

Luca's general atmosphere was that of joy. With the tournament due to happen the next day each blitzball team was arriving only a few hours apart. Making my way around the stadium that was ringed by each dock, I learned that the teams from Besaid and Kilika islands were delayed and again felt that hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Everywhere I went I was met by an equal divide of joy and sorrow. The joy felt inappropriate, but being around the sadness for more than a few seconds made my chest ache enough that I would rush away and pause until it had faded.

I wasn't used to grief. Not since I had last felt it, as the only confidant I had in the entirety of Zanarkand smiled and withered away to join her husband, her dry lips whispering so quiet I had to lean forward to hear, "It's okay, it's fine, take care of him, it will be alright", over and over and _over_ again until her hand let go of mine. My fingers unconsciously clenched at the memory of her body fading to pyreflies while the boy slept.

My mouth grew dry as I stood there reliving memories I had suppressed long ago. I glanced around the docks, then made my way to the only place I had paused at in Luca before Braska had carried on with the journey.

The taverna was as loud as I remembered, but now, instead of a wide-eyed youth experiencing life all over again beyond Bevelle's walls, I was a husk of a man simply looking for escape. I ordered the strongest drink they offered- an Al Bhed concoction containing some form of berry found only in the desert and ground cactuar needles -and seated myself in the corner.

And waited.

Somewhere between glass half full and glass half empty I felt the burning ache of grief once more and pressed my gloved fingers to my eye before the tears could fall.

* * *

Yunalesca came to me in a dream.

_Of course you're back._ I wondered dimly if she could see me. Much like a statue she stood immobile, so far away I could have run for days and still not caught her. _Where have you been? I will discover, all in due time. Of course you would survive._

"Of course. If only I can move this patron..."

I awoke. The bartender was at my side, a glare in his eyes but a smile on his lips. My drink was long finished and two Lucan citizens stood expectantly waiting for, quite obviously, myself to move. I glanced around and realised the bar had filled while I rested; in fact, the bar had started its next morning of service and I had slept through the crowded nightlife and straight past sunrise. The bars in Luca stayed open for full days leading up to the tournament, I dimly recalled, and I had overstayed my welcome.

I slipped out of the booth and gathered my belongings, then made my way out into the square. Another sun-filled day yet again, the day the tournament began. The boats from the islands would no doubt arrive soon and I quickened my pace to reach their scheduled docking places.

It was halfway there I heard a familiar laugh and I glanced upward, spotting the blonde hair and pearly white grin the instant the screen focused on it. Coverage of the arrival of the final teams and there stood Tidus, laughing as he yelled something unintelligible at the home team. It brought a slight quirk to my lips; he had always been outspoken, always gotten himself into trouble.

Rather than go to him- sphere cameras were the last thing I needed capturing my 'legendary' visage -I made my way to the stadium and found an out of the way seat for myself in the shade. It was there I sat for hours until the stadium prepared the sphere pool of congealed water and the competition began. I didn't watch. My eyes were focused on the distant horizon over the water. Any sight of Sin and I would be at the boy's side in a moment-...

_Braska._

Blinking, I stared unbelieving further down into the crowd as I saw his face once more. Half blind from the sun, I couldn't be sure of what I had seen. I had nearly risen to my feet when the face turned and gentle brown hair rested against her cheeks. No, it wasn't Braska, nor was it his partner and wife Ikkei. It was their daughter, full of shining life and cheering on the team that hailed from her own village. And then I heard something I would never have expected.

She shouted "Tidus!", and far away in the sphere pool the boy gave her a thumbs up, a smile and performed the special goal-scoring shot he had honed in far off Zanarkand.

Jecht and Braska's children, and they knew each other. And, I reflected, it could not have been more perfect or made things more simple for myself. But then I questioned why _she_ would be in Luca, of all places, and my face fell as I realised my own answer. Why she sat with a staff at her side and her hands properly folded in her lap. Why she would not meet the eyes of her companions fully. Why her smile was tinged by a hint of sorrow.

She was a Summoner.

The injustice of this filled with such a potent rage that I found myself moving from my seat to the hallway that ran behind the crowded stands and I slammed a fist into the concrete wall to control my own shouts of anger. I had given up so much in an attempt to prevent this very thing from happening and in the end it had been futile.

I already knew what I had to do. It was decided the instant I'd seen her face. And I'd promise both Braska and Jecht, as the only living guardian of our motley crew, that their families would remain safe. Having failed on one account for both of them, both wives having passed away, I could not let the same happen for their children. The only thing they had left.

Otherwise, why remain? Why avoid my fate on the Farplane for so long?

It was, perhaps, the final thing I had to do. The final thing, and then I would rest.

* * *

I sat in the stands through each break and pause in the match, keeping my eyes on Yuna until she and her group wandered away from their seats. I then shifted my attention to the boy, watching him intently even when the game reached a pause.

At first it was quiet. None could determine why play had halted. I stared intently at the cobalt sphere and waited.

And then a member of the Lucan blitzball team was thrown from the sphere, crashing into the stands and laying still. Slowly, fiends began to materialise in the water and made a straight path toward my charge.

I glared and rose to my feet, drawing the hilt of my sword up with me. I eased it on to my shoulder for quicker movement and started down the concrete stairs.

At the base of the stairs I was met by a large creature spanning the length of an entire row of seats. It blocked the exits and, unfortunately, my path towards the boy.

"Move," I snarled in a commanding tone. It growled at me and snapped its teeth, pools of drool forming below its ravenous maw. I could see it would not be moving any time soon and slipped my opposite sword-bearing arm out of the makeshift sling in my coat. My bare palm touched the metal of my sword and I felt my training and skills come back to me in a moment as if I had never left this place, never gone to safe and secure Zanarkand. I wanted blood.

The creature dove at me and in the same instant I stepped quickly aside, driving the blade directly into the side of its serpentine neck. It cried out in pain and turned to snap at me but was unable to reach past the sword. It chose instead to swing sharply around, pulling me with it in a haze of red blood that coated my arms and the ground beneath me. Still I held on, planting my feet against it's body and pulling away only when it had stopped moving. I landed a few feet away crouched on my feet, sword scraping against the concrete floor. Still bleeding from its nonfatal wound, the creature- dragon, really, I admonished myself -turned to face me, licks of fire inching past closed lips.

Before it could attack once more I heard a yell, and turned only to see Tidus streak past me. I felt a stab of panic and followed, stopping only when he forced his sword- not the one I had given him, I noticed as an afterthought -into the dragon's forehead. It screeched as he forced it forward, lifted its head, and I quickly thrust my blade upward. The blade pierced it's neck and sent carmine liquid coursing down my arms. Only once it ceased moving did I step back and wipe what filth I could off on the end of my overcoat.

Tidus turned back and smiled at me, resting his sword on it's tip. "I knew I recognized that red coat."

"Where is your sword?" I asked, nodding to the blue translucent blade that shone like oceanwater in his bloodsoaked hand.

"Upgraded. Kept Jecht's sword back in the village."

"Village?" I asked, easing my elbow back into the crook of my coat. The age old wounds I bore on that limb had resurfaced in a haze of blinding pain that only distractions could rid me of.

"Baid or Besid or something," Tidus replied with a nonchalant shrug.

A hand clapped on his shoulder and I tensed, ready to strike. It belonged to a larger figure with dark tanned skin and a shock of red hair who currently smiled benevolently at me, warmly enough that my shoulders relaxed.

"He means Besaid. Besaid Island," the other man explained and I realised it was one of the members of the blitzball team that had been in the water with the boy when the fiends saw fit to attack.

I opened my mouth to ask of Yuna when I realised that two fiends had made their way behind the two younger men. Turning my head, I saw two more behind myself. They surrounded us. I swung round, gripping the hilt in one hand, my sword arcing upwards as the creatures dove at me. Moments before my weapon would have lopped off both their heads the fiends dissolved into a hundred pyreflies and I almost fell to the ground under the force of my missed attack. I turned only to see the same happen with Tidus and his companion. Our eyes met a moment and turned in unison to the center of the stadium.

A creature, hundreds of lengths tall, stood half submerged in a burning, lethal pool of what seemed to be tar. Both arms were bound to its chest, the fingernails scratching unendingly at the sides of its grotesque face. It let out a moan like a wounded animal that deafened all those around and then sunk back into the depths of the tarry blackness, the grasping fingers still moving even as they faded from view. _An Aeon? No, not that monster._

I glanced around the stadium in the resulting silence. Bodies lay everywhere with their companions crouched close to them, silent tears falling as they sat too stunned to make any sound. The seats were coated with blood, both that of fiends and that of spectators. I closed my eyes from the sight of the torn bodies of children and instead inclined my gaze to the balcony that sat higher than the rest of the stadium. The Maesters of Yevon should have been standing watch over the match. Should have protected their people.

Instead stood only a single man, his arms outstretched, his face solemn. I heard whispered from Tidus's companion "Maester Seymour", his tone almost adoring.

"The threat is gone," he called from his balcony, arms still open wide like a benevolent god. "Please retire to your places of residence on this sad day, so that we may retain the joy of the week come tomorrow on behalf of those you have lost."

He then bowed in the prayer of Yevon and all around me the stadium echoed his movements. In the back of my head I could hear the dim thrum of the hymn and spat on the ground beside me before turning and heading toward the exit.

"Tidus, come." Like a loyal pet he obeyed, his friend likewise following. "We must find Yuna."

* * *

  
_A/N- Thank you for the lovely comments and thank you for reading. This story follows the course of the game but with added parts, removed parts, and entirely changed parts. For the violence of the story there was not much realism with the violence (of course, it was a 'T' rated game), which explains why I'm so gore-happy._


	5. Chapter 4: BAIT

**4. BAIT**

The first thing I noticed about her was that each eye was a separate color, one a deep blue and the other a shining teal green

The first thing I noticed about her was that each eye was a separate color, one a deep blue and the other a shining teal green. I was so taken aback that I remained speechless for some time while she shifted on her feet uncomfortably before me.

I found myself quickly and asked, "Are you a Summoner?"

Clasping her hands, Yuna nodded. She seemed soft-spoken by nature, and yet it seemed she was almost mute under my scrutiny. Part of this, I reflected, was likely due in part to what had happened earlier that day. The girl was far too young to be forced to deal with such death. I realised then that she likely was caught up in the aftermath of Sin's attack on Kilika, and as the only Summoner there...

What a horrible thing to force a child to do.

"I wish to be your guardian," I told Yuna, feeling as though I should bow to her but finding myself unable to. I would not be going blindly into this pilgrimage, and I would not be taking her to the same end her father met. How, I did not yet know. The answer would come in time.

"O-of course!" she exclaimed, a smile brightening her face. I could see shades of both Braska and Ikkei in her, in the way she grinned and the way she spoke. She had turned out very much like her parents. I suppressed the sadness this thought brought and turned to face the rest of the group of guardians. My eyes met Kimahri's feline ones and we shared a silent agreement not to speak of my 'living situation' - or lack thereof.

"Any objections?" I asked her guardians, and was met with no protest. Tidus still appeared somewhat confused and, too, since the adrenaline had worn away post-fight he now looked somewhat angry. Once it was assented that I would join the group, the boy motioned for me to follow him. We descended the staircase we had found Yuna waiting on and made our way to a nearby alley. He decided this was not enough privacy and continued down the alley. We emerged on a dock used to restock the shops in the square and he stepped behind a cover of wooden crates.

Tidus turned to face me, arms crossed, glowering. "Why am I here?"

"You led me here-"

"I mean Spira. Why am I in Spira? What happened to Zanarkand and why did you just let that...that _thing_ get me?"

I smiled. "There is quite a bit you have yet to know, Tidus. It would be foolish of me to overwhelm you with it here and now."

"I want answers!" he snarled, taking a step in my direction as if it would intimidate me into speaking. As it was, I merely blinked and removed my glasses, pain immediately overwhelming my one good eye as the light of the sun reached it. I had always given the boy what little respect I owed him as an individual, and this included looking directly into his eyes as we spoke.

This also had the fortunate side effect of making him extremely uncomfortable.

He backed down somewhat, turning to face the ocean and sighing. "I just...I don't understand _why _I'm here, Auron. I miss my home. I miss my stupid empty boat and the photos of me and mom."

"Don't cry," I murmured. He gave me a withering look and blinked once or twice quite purposely.

"I don't cry anymore," he told me. "Not when the children in Kilika could watch their parents die and never lose face."

"It's a harsh reality they face," I told him, remembering my own childhood fears and how I had been locked in my room for days every time I had the spine to let myself cry. The 'training' had stuck. I had cried but once in ten years, and only when the mother of the stubborn boy before me had kissed my clenched fist and then laid her head down weakly once more. Before she'd let go.

"What is Sin?" he asked me, turning to face me. Images of his mother dispersed at once, leaving me standing alone with only this stubborn child whom I had never asked to parent and yet would do so until he was safe upon the end of Sin. If he remained. It was yet to be seen, and I had only theories.

"Sin is..." I began, but the words caught in my throat. I coughed gruffly, swallowed and gazed up at him once more, my gaze meeting his. "Sin is your father."

Tidus laughed, sharply and bitterly. At first it was just once, before it turned into a peal of laughter that never once reached his eyes. And only then did I see tears in his eyes and the bitterness on his face. "You're a liar."

"I am not. Jecht took on Sin's shape in order to give this land ten years of peace. That time has expired."

He stopped laughing, his face now a mask of pain. "Jecht...stupid, pathetic Jecht is the reason Kilika was destroyed? He killed Yuna and Wakka and Lulu's parents? _My _father is-..." His voice hitched, and he turned away from me for a moment before wheeling around and slamming a fist into my shoulder. "You're lying! You have to be lying!" I let him continue to hit me a few times before I caught his wrist in my hand and held him at bay.

"Zanarkand is gone. It was destroyed by Sin. He brought both you and I to Spira," I looked sharply at him, "for a reason."

"What reason?" he spat, backing down for the moment. I released his wrist.

"That girl," I said, pointing back toward where Yuna stood. "He brought us back to help her."

"Yuna?" Immediately his face softened, I noted somewhat warily. "Why her? What would Jecht want with her?"

"He wants her to stop this," I told him, now speaking of my own thoughts as if Jecht had stood before me and explained some great plan and I was merely acting on his behalf. "He wants this cycle of life and death to end. And he wants to go with it."

"He...he wants us to kill him?"

I nodded solemnly. "Jecht loved this land in the short time he spent here. To destroy it every day, kill those he cared about...there is no greater Hell than what that offers. So stand up, clean your face off, and go perform your duty as a guardian."

"How is she supposed to stop Sin, if even her father couldn't?"

I was silent. How indeed. "She'll...she'll find a way," I murmured. "For now, though, we must go."

* * *

Though the group assented that it was a long walk from Luca down the Mi'ihen highroad, none saw fit to suggest that chocobos be taken due to the obvious cost. A quick word with the chocobo trainer about the pilgrimage and the importance of Yuna's role, however, and I had procured five of the large birds for our journey across the plains. Kimahri, a natural evolution of the cats inhabiting the countryside, saw more fit to run on two legs behind us. "Keeping guard of the flank," he reasoned, but I knew it was more in part due to his sheer size and weight, and the humor of a Ronso sitting astride one of the powerful but still tiny birds.

We rode for a few hours at a time, myself at the side of the group and Tidus alongside Yuna at the front. The designated watering stations set along the highroad were our break points, where we would sit in silence as our mounts recovered. Some time in the latter half of midday we were halted from continuing any further past the next watering station by a group of people surrounding a large, covered wagon.

Yuna reacted with shock, not at being halted, but at who had halted her progress. "Luzzu! Gatta!" She looked pained. "Not...Crusaders."

"Sorry, Yuna," the redhead before her murmured, unable to meet her eyes. "We support your pilgrimage, but this is our contribution to stopping Sin."

"But machina are what caused this in the _first _place," Yuna said, seeming almost to plead with them. Over what, I did not know. "Using machina against Sin will accomplish nothing."

"It's...not normal machina," the younger Crusader told her. He smiled encouragingly, a smile Yuna could not return. "The Al Bhed have been working it for months! It's been tested- it'll tear through Sin's hide and hit the brain before he can even react. Even if he survives, there's the entire army of the Crusaders to tear him to pieces. It'll work Yuna." His smile faltered. "It...has to."

I let their dialogue continue, finding no purpose in my standing there continuing to listen to things I knew nothing about. I made my way instead to the wagon they were guarding that lay underneath what seemed to be woven bags stitched together. All of the other guards were paused at the front of the wagon, talking amongst themselves, and I unsheathed my sword from my belt and slid it under the cover. I lifted it a few inches and was met with a startling, horrifying roar.

A larger, more evolved sinspawn snapped it's jaws against the cage's bars, its many eyes locked on me. I stumbled back, dropping my sword on the ground, and whirled to face the two boys that now turned their attention from Yuna back to that which they guarded.

"Why?" I shouted, pointing at the sinspawn that continued to try and catch me in its mouth. "Why is this here?!"

"Bait," was all Luzzu said, his face now a mask of indifference. "And we must be off. We wish you and your guardians well, Summoner Yuna." Both he and Gatta gave her a short bow before striding back to the cart and continuing down their path, taking instead a smaller road that would lead- with no breaks along the way -to the coast, to Mushroom Rock Road.

To the coast. I could not believe they would be so mad.

"What was that?" Wakka asked, somewhat panicked. "Why did they have that in the cage?"

"Bait," I said, echoing Luzzu's words in a bitter tone. "Sin will always return to it's spawn."

At this, I turned to look at Tidus, both of us understanding the true meaning of my words.


	6. Chapter 5: DEATH

**5. DEATH**

Some hours of peace were spent resting at the only inn along the road to the coast. I found myself alone in my room for much of the time, naked except for my undergarments and trying to ease the pain flowing over my body. As a 'legendary' guardian I could afford to show no weakness at any time; doing so could result in their strength and resolve failing, and this was something I could not allow to happen.

After a long bath of near-boiling water (provided through pipes, in a show of Al Bhed defiance through their use of machina) I stood before a mirror and examined my scars. They covered my skin from the neck downwards, long slashes that served as reminders of the life I had led. I noted in particular the scar I had dreamt of, the one that had rendered me near-blind and convinced me to take up my glasses.

I touched a finger to it, repulsed at the smoothness and angry that I could feel my eye behind the skin and yet could do nothing to bring back my sight. It had been irreversibly damaged. I could recall laying at the base of Gagazet, dying alone in the cold snow, watching Kimahri fade into the distance toward Bevelle and feeling warm liquid fall from my torn eyelid. My hair had been matted with blood, numerous cuts refusing to heal.

And that one single wound inflicted by Yunalesca- a gap across my torso where her spell had torn it just enough that I would bleed to death before I reached help -had left the largest scar of all when it murdered me, and not only a physical one.

I turned from the mirror and pulled each piece of my clothing back on, allowing myself the freedom of not wearing my constricting belt. The overcoat felt lighter without it and allowed me decency without restriction.

Glancing out the window, I noted Yuna sitting on the edge of the cliff that lined the road, hunched over but seemingly calm. Before I could discover what exactly held her attention so strongly Tidus strode across the road, stumbled as a fast-moving chocobo rider went running past, and then sat down beside her and smiled.

He was a ridiculous boy sometimes, but as I watched Yuna laugh and smile brightly at him I knew he was exactly what she would need to keep going.

* * *

  
We reached the coast the following day following a run-in with a fiend who had taken to tearing apart the chocobos and spreading them across the road. I had my doubts that he had merely 'happened' to come across the well-guarded inn and eat the only form of transportation, but as I had no proof I kept my concerns to myself. There had been enough left afterwards for most of our group and Tidus and Yuna had been paired on the same to accommodate this.

We were stopped at the arch of rock that signaled the transition from the plains of Mi'ihen to the stone path along Mushroom Rock Road. The reason given was weak- that any and all civilians would be required to set up camp until after Operation Mi'ihen, the attack on Sin, later that day.

"So that we all can die alongside you?" I remarked dryly. The guard's expression faltered only for a second.

"The Operation will be successful and you will be allowed to continue on your way after it's completion. At this time, however, you must either travel back to the inn on the plains or find some place to sleep here."

I gripped the hilt of my sword on my belt tightly and narrowed my eyes at him. "Your Operation is foolishness and you will let the Summoner pass."

"I'm sorry, sir. My orders come straight from the Maester."

"Let them pass." I turned to the source of the voice and found before me the same Maester that had been present in Luca for the attack on the stadium. He stepped forward and waved a hand to the guard, who nodded in resignation and went back to his post.

The Maester's eyes, I noted warily, dwelt on Yuna. He turned to face me and I stared openly back at him, our considerable height equal and therefore not in the least intimidating for either. An eyebrow raised, he gave me a look that chilled to the bone and for the first time I noted his tendril-like fingers and the pattern on his chest that resembled the rings of a tree. He was a Guado.

He knew I was dead.

I stepped away from the group as his dialogue turned to Yuna and her journey, panic rising in my chest. Were the rest to know, the Pilgrimage would end, and with it any chance of being rid of Sin. I looked over my shoulder back to the Maester, who now seemed amused and unconcerned with matters related to a long-dead guardian.

We were led down the road along the coast. Machina lined the cliffside, their use a mystery to all save the Al Bhed now working on them. The Maester- Seymour being his name, I discovered whilst listening to whispered sighs thanks and praise from Wakka at my side -was taking us toward what he called the 'Command Center'. In reality it was a line of couches, tents and curtains had been raised to house the Maesters as they oversaw the final preparations for their last-ditch attack.

Maester Seymour excused himself for a final inspection and we were left standing alone on the ridge looking out over the disturbingly still water and listening to the din of conversation around us. Soon after Seymour left, the young Crusader that had identified himself as Gatta in Mi'ihen strode past, pausing as he noticed the Lady Yuna.

I listened only half-heartedly to their conversation, something about being free to fight for his family and Luzzu being unfair- I was distracted by a form that now stood near the cliff with his hands on his ample hips, calling out cheerful commendations to the men below.

The last time I had seen Wen Kinoc he had been accepting my promotion to leader of the Bevelle branch of warrior monks and preaching about the glories of Yevon. He had also been far more in shape. He turned, panting as he descended the wooden platform beneath his feet to reach the grass, and for the first time noticed me.

"Well I'll be an Al Bhed's aunt. If it isn't Auron!"

I nodded shortly to him in reply. There was no desire in me to speak with Kinoc. Not since he had assented to my imprisonment following my refusal of betrothal and had laughed as I sat in my cell, waiting for the freedom that Braska eventually offered.

"Where have you been, old man?" he asked with a jovial slap of my elbow (he stood no higher than mid-chest, and yet wider than Tidus and I side-by-side).

I ignored his query. "You're a Maester now?" I could barely disguise the tone of disgust. Kinoc seemed not to notice, grinning widely.

"Promotion is all it is. Commendation of service, blah blah, nothing important. A lot has changed in ten years. What about you?"

I felt a smirk tug at my lips and I removed my glasses. Kinoc took in a sharp breath of surprise as he noted the scar stretching far down past my collar and he immediately tried to keep from staring. As the conversation with Gatta continued beside me, Kinoc led me away from the group a short distance and lowered his voice.

"What...happened to you, Auron?" he asked, his face possessing all the sympathy of a life-long friend. I contained my disgust.

"I grew up," I replied, suddenly aware of how gruff and hoarse my own voice had become. Kinoc, for all his physical changes, sounded and acted roughly the same. And yet, I had changed so much, even after death.

Perhaps it was a manifestation of my inner self.

Kinoc did not seem content with this answer, but chose not to press it. I halted any further discussion by asking, "What do you hope to accomplish with all this?"

He gestured to the machina lining the ridge. "What, this? These guns?" Kinoc laughed. "You know as well as I do this isn't going to work."

I looked sharply at him. "What?"

"Let them have their hope for a short time longer." Kinoc smiled sadly but, rather than empathy, I felt disgust. He had become so fully twisted by Yevon he truly believed Sin was a God incapable of defeat.

His name was heard then and Kinoc excused himself politely before he meandered back toward a group of other Maesters, Seymour included. They conversed for a few moments and then a chorus of "Sin comes!" was heard.

I looked out over the water and, indeed, he was in the distance, still no more than a dot on the horizon. All around men forced spears into the cages that now stood uncovered, stabbing the sinspawn within just enough to make them cry out in rage but not die. On the beach, men and women alike sat poised on their chocobos or stood on their own two feet, all a mask of bravery and terror.

Tidus and I shared a look. The sinspawn were not needed. Sin would come to any coast that Tidus stood on, would kill anything to get to him. There was still some of Jecht left within.

Sin drew closer, a low growl reverberating across the coastline. At the same time, a large structure resembling a canon seemed to thrum to life, a beam of energy forming at it's tip. I watched as Sin came almost deathly close and the cannon finally fired.

In the same instant Sin drew a field of energy around himself and the gun struck with little effect. The entire field of fighters below drew in a collective breath and we all watched and waited as the projectile fought to penetrate Sin's armor.

And then, with an ear-shattering blast that came on a rush of air, the beam reversed and struck the cannon. It exploded in a haze of fire and smoke and collapsed, taking with it anyone who dared to stand too close to the base.

I heard Yuna's gasp at my side as Sin surged forward, the spawn making their way across the water on nimble legs. The soldiers below rushed forward to meet them, swords held aloft as they cut through the fiends as if made of rice paper. Somewhere along the way I lost track of the two boys our group had been so focused on in Mi'ihen and silently hoped for my Summoner's sake that they would survive.

Then, as the Maesters shouted orders from above and the fighting became so frenzied that both Spirans and fiends seemed as a mass of one, Sin opened his mouth. At first the air went still, nature seeming to tremble in fear. The men and women carried on fighting, the Maesters shouting, and all I could hear was an awful, calm silence.

"Get down!" I yelled the instant the ball of energy released itself and surged toward the shore, growing greater in size with every inch it covered. I pulled Yuna against my chest, Tidus along with her, and shielded both beneath my body. The heat on my back was so strong I was forced to bite my cheek to keep from yelling in pain, and I couldn't see anything through the dust the attack had risen. Yuna shook against me, her tears soaking into the shoulder of my coat

Finally, everything was still.

I looked up and, seeing nothing but clouds of sand drifting across my field of vision, released the two of them from my grip. They rose to their feet, Yuna shakily performing the prayer of Yevon in thanks to me, and we three turned to look out over the sea.

Carnage, everywhere. Bodies lay torn and battered, only a few select still moving. Some had been reduced to mere piles of dust in the shape of Spirans and Al Bhed alike. There was no sign of the two boys from Besaid. All I could see for some distance were corpses and blood.

"It is worse than I thought," I said, my voice hoarse. I realised I was struggling not to kneel, biting back cries of rage and horror. _What has Yevon done?_

Tidus shook in anger, staring in amazement at all that surrounded him, and with a yell he ran forward, sliding down the embankment before us to reach the beach. I watched in dismay as he dove into the water after Sin's fast-retreating form, his strong swimming skills no match for the current.

I left him to his task and turned back to where our group had stood. With some relief I noted them all unscathed, but each bore a look of horror and dismay. The mage, Lulu, looked as if she would be sick and Wakka wrapped both arms around her shoulders, holding her tight as the tears fell. I turned away, my attention once more on Yuna.

She nearly dropped to her knees, save my catching her at the last moment. I watched as her face collapsed and she gripped the lapels of my overcoat, burying her face against my chest and silently crying. I stood there, allowed her some time for tears, and then pushed her back and lifted her chin.

"You are a Summoner. You are Spira's hope. You _must_ remain strong, especially now."

Some seconds passed and then she nodded, her face now a mask of false bravery. She reached for her staff and turned from us, striding toward the beach where Tidus now moved slowly amongst the bodies having given up his chase. Reaching him, they shared some words, and then she began her dance of sending.

I left them, making my way back to the main road, the call of rest and of peace too great for me even from the distance I stood. I was not done here yet, and I refused to leave.

* * *

_Come for the aurikku, stay for the naked! Or...vice-versa. In any case, timeline: pause in Djose, ride across the Moonflow, and then fwa-bam: Rikku. That's when the fun starts._

_Until then, here. Have more description. Long chapter is long. :D Thanks for reading!_


	7. Chapter 6: REST

****

6. REST

The pain was unbearable. Such a close proximity to Sin, as well as his attack on us as a collective, had weakened me considerably and left me sitting on a small rock, arms around my stomach, trying with all my strength to refrain from moaning.

A few feet away Yuna stood admidst a group of injured soldiers, calling down Yevon's blessing on each. As she would finish speaking a white light would seem to cascade over them and they stood somewhat straighter with seemingly more strength. But this resulted, unfortunately, in the weakening of her own body and as she blessed the final soldier to come to her, her feet gave out and she sunk into a sitting position on the ground, Tidus at her side with concern etched on his features.

She gently eased him away and rose to her feet, walking in my direction. I sat up, wincing as a fresh stab of pain shot up my spine, and looked to her expectantly.

Instead of speaking, she lifted her hands and performed her prayer, then rested her palms against my temple. They were cool to the touch, refreshing.

"Praise be to Yevon, please bless this man, a humble servant of your teachings," she murmured and the white light from before slid over my vision like a silk drape over my form. The pain was eased considerably- there were some wounds that would never heal -and I found it far easier to hold myself aloft. I felt so physically healthy I could not comment on her ill thought out blessing, but there would be time for that, and much more, later.

"Better?"

I nodded to her, keeping my head down for a fraction of a moment as a sign of respect. She was a skilled Summoner and healer, almost as much as her father.

"Everyone that I can heal myself has been healed," she told me, smiling as best she could. "We must obtain the Fayth of D'jose before we can continue to the Moonflow."

"Moonflow?" I said questioningly. "But that's a round-about way to reach Macalania temple. Why not just take the road down to the bridge and enter straight to it?"

"The Maester Seymour invited us to dine with him at his home in Guadosalam. I accepted his offer as a show of respect."

Tidus stiffened at the mention of the Guado, as did I, but judging from the look in Seymour's eyes as he had spoken to Yuna ealier that day, the boy and I were nervous for very different reasons.

"If that is what you wish," I answered formally, absently. Already I was wondering how to keep the Maester from mentioning to them my situation.

Yuna seemed not to notice my lack of interest and instead waved to the rest of our group further down the road. They joined us and I rose to me feet to begin the last leg of the walk before D'jose and the inn that lay there.

* * *

The Fayth of D'jose was obtained with no trouble- I wondered wryly what figure lay set in the floor of the temple and whether we'd met in Zanarkand -and we rested the night. Throughout most of it I could hear Lulu in the next room over sobbing quietly and was sympathetic; she had managed to keep a straight face for quite some time that day and it had obviously helped Yuna keep her strength up.

I stepped outside early in the morning to give myself some air, wearing only my pants and tunic. My sword, boots and overcoat I left sitting on the bed in my room.

As an afterthought, I had also brought my clay bottle and sat leaned against the temple sipping from it. Much had happened that day to merit it.

I was joined after some time by another figure- Luzzu, I realised, seeing his shock of red hair and the torn but obviously Besaidian clothing he wore. I offered my alcohol to him and he accepted it without hesitation. There was no mirth or calm on his face. He seemed haunted.

"Where is your companion?" I asked him gently as I could manage, already knowing the answer.

"Torn in half," he replied, staring out over the temple courtyard. "Sent to the Farplane with his body rotting on that beach. Thank Yevon that Yuna was here or we may have had to..." He took a drink once more, handed me the bottle, and stared empty at the wall behind me. "Well, anyway."

"She'll end it." I pressed the stopper back into my drink and set it on the ground. I had utmost respect for the man, especially following such an attack. He had done well and, despite his friend's death, knew it. For it to amount to nothing was the worst blow of all.

Face collapsing, Luzzu pressed a palm to his eyes, his shoulders shaking in silence. He slammed a fist against the side of the inn and sank down to a sitting position, his tears slowly growing less and less until he let his hand drop and sighed.

"We believed so much that it would work," he murmured, his voice strained with grief. "And Gatta, I told him to wait. Told him he would be of more use at the base camp."

"Many passed there as well."

"At least they went in peace. At least I would not have...would not have had to listen to him scream." He pressed both thumbs to his eyes. "He did not go quickly."

"Were you there?"

"Yes."

"Then he went in peace, regardless of his injuries." How could I not know? Losing a friend to death- losing a close friend at all. Your only close friend. I turned my head from his grief before it overwhelmed me as well.

"When will Sin stop? Summoners go, we have peace, and then this happens once more. And nothing can halt the spiral of death."

I crouched down, elbows resting on my knees, and levelled my eyes with his. "Yuna will stop it. I will make sure of it. You have my word."

After a moment, he nodded, then shakily got back to his feet. "It's almost morning. I must rest before we start the burials." He outstretched a hand to me and we shook, a strangely foreign greeting amongst all these Spiran prayers. It was clear he had lost his faith in Yevon. "I'll keep you to your word, Sir Auron."

"Good."

* * *

We departed D'jose the next day once our summoner had managed to tear herself from her bed. She had a shuffling gait, a byproduct of her physical exhaustion, and I offered her my arm as we set out. She looked as if to decline, then thought better of it and took my proffered elbow to support herself. The boy hung back and walked close by her, offering simply his presence to bring her strength.

People lined the bridges, mostly wounded soldiers, each making the best effort that they could to offer Yuna the prayer of Yevon. She nodded back to each one, unable to stop and give her blessing to every injured figure. After some time she let go of my arm, her energy returning to her.

Tidus walked by my side as we made our way toward the Moonflow. The pyreflies emanating from it soared high above the treetops before us and his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Where is our route heading to?" he asked me quietly.

"The Moonflow. Lady Yuna has decided we will dine with Maester Seymour tonight in Guadosalam and then continue on our way to Macalania."

He looked at me, disgusted. "Maester Seymour. What does she want with him, anyway?"

"To show respect, apparently. We do not have time to waste idly dining with the aristocracy-of-sorts of Spira, but what the Summoner desires is what we will do."

"Huh." Tidus fell quiet at my side, staring blankly for quite some time into the trees until we came upon a small group of Hypello. Tidus watched them, confused at the new race of humanoid creatures. One laughed and raised a hand to him.

"What eesh eet boy? Nevah sheen Hypello b'fore?" I suppressed a smile at their strong accents and instead pointed out, for Tidus's benefit, the large creature standing knee deep in the glimmering water of the Moonflow. True to its name it shimmered everywhere one looked, pyreflies jetting up from the surface like fairies at play. Tidus seemed stunned, paticularly, by the Shoopuf that eased it's way out of the water and let out an ear-splitting trumpet. Tidus jumped, his feet leaving the ground for a half-second, and stared wide-eyed at the large animal.

Another Hypello, this one different than the first, laughed and said, "Boy may not sheen Hypello b'fore, but boy shure not sheen Shoopuf before. Watch out, boy. Shoopuf shtep on you, not sho pleashant!" The entire group of Shoopuf handlers laughed at this and, cheeks burning, I watched as Tidus strolled off nonchalantly as he could manage toward the rest area. It certainly did not help that Yuna had joined in with the Hypello's mirth and could not restrain her giggles.

All of it brought to mind Jecht's initial reaction- drunk out of his mind and exhausted on top of it -to the Shoopufs here. He'd stumbled away in suprise, then stabbed his sword into the poor creature's leg and slit it's throat. All of it had happened so quickly, me and Braska could do nothing except stand by his side as the mother of a young, terrified, crying child berated him.

The memory brought a smile to my face and turned my eyes automatically to Tidus across the way alongside Yuna, so much like their parents. The thought of them reaching the same fate made my heart bleed.

A few hours passed before the Hypellos called for boarding and we each made our way on to our Shoopuf's back. I seated myself in a place where I had a view of our entire surroundings and then relaxed as we set off into the calm river water, our animal's lumbering footsteps a comfort to me. I had always been somewhat fearful of riding the Shoopufs, simply because in deeper water they relied on their considerable strength to keep themselves and their cargo afloat. Such a large animal did not seem capable of such stamina.

For some time I listened to my companions and their idle conversation, paying more attention to the water flowing gently a few feet below and the comfort the sound brought me. The caress of the pyreflies eased the pain in my body, made me feel a hint of rest if only for a moment.

I heard it then- a quiet noise, and the animal snorting gently and shifting. Something had changed.

My eyes shot open as a figure crawled on to the Shoopuf's rump and wrapped it's arms around Yuna, face obscured by the breathing mask and goggles they wore. An Al Bhed. I rose to my feet and retrieved my sword in the same moment the man laughed, pulled Yuna back and fell into the water in a diver pose. He would make it through the depths fast.

"Yuna!" both Wakka and Tidus shouted simultaneously. Without a second thought the boy leaped over the railing and dove in after them, Wakka joining him a moment later. I thought better of joining them, knowing that I would move slower than them at my age and also that my body may not fully be able to tear itself away from the comfort of the pyreflies. I instead leaned over the side and watched as they disappear into the blackness, into the ruins of a city lost.

Lulu and I sat across from each other for minutes on end, our eyes meeting, and I knew both of us shared the same thoughts. The same hope that each one of them would come out of this alive. Both men, due to their Blitzball backgrounds, had the ability to hold their breath for considerable amounts of time; Yuna was not so fortunate. The seconds ticked by like hearbeats growing dimmer and dimmer.

Suddenly we heard the tell-tale sign of broken water and leaned over the railing once more. Tidus held Yuna against his body in the crook of his elbow- she had fallen unconcious, most likely due to lack of oxygen -and both he and Wakka fought to lift her on to the Shoopuf's back. Once up, they laid her on the floor and Wakka set to clearing her lungs of water the only way he'd been trained how- he pressed on her chest with hands clasped, then breathed into her mouth. I was not used to such an archaic method, having been around healers any time I was in battle, and watched in relief as her eyes flew open and she coughed away the water she had swallowed. I let out a breath I had not noticed I was holding.

"What happened?" Lulu inquired, kneeling to cradle Yuna against herself like a loving mother.

"Al Bhed," Wakka spat, catchiing his breath and wiping the water from his face. "They tried to make off with her in one of their machina but we destroyed it and fished her out."

"What do Al Bhed want with Yuna?" Kimahri mused alou and my thoughts were brought to her mother Ikkei, but I unable to think of any explanation as to why her own kind would kidnap and try to drown her. No one thought any further on it, clearly glad that their Summoner was safe, and we sat back- albeit more tense and ready for attack than before -for the remainder of the ride.

After a hour or two more our mount reached the opposite shore of the long stretch of water and the Hypello on the bank immediately set to work suspending us a dismount platform and feeding and watering the tired animal. I set to foot to ground thankfully, for once happy to be on my own two feet. The others seemed not as jubilant, clearly already tired after stressing about Yuna's safety.

Tidus wandered off down the road- scouting, he told us, though I suspected he simply needed the time alone -and we each sat at the rest area for some minutes to gather provisions for the next stretch of journey. It was just past mid-day and the walk to Guadosalam would have us arriving near evening when the sun was lower on the horizon. It would be dangerous to be around fiends in the darkness and we needed to reach our destination before it came to that. I paid to have a blacksmith sharpen the edge of my blade and then called for each of us to follow Tidus's path. The boy had not returned yet and I grew worried in the wake of the Al Bhed's assault.

Before long we came upon him and the group continued forward. I myself hung back, content to see that he was safe, already mentally planning our route and the schedule we would follow to ensure that we stayed on time and on track.

And then I saw her and froze.

* * *

_No, Auron, you have to tell us what you saw! Bad Auron. __Perhaps we'll find out next time. Hmmm._

_Reviews are appreciated and taken to heart._


	8. Chapter 7: GHOSTS

**7. GHOSTS**

Her hair shone a golden blonde and her bright green eyes kept me rooted place.

She had taken no notice of me, instead talking animatedly to Yuna and Tidus. She was sopping wet from head to toe and I had no idea where she had come from.

There was a lull in conversation and then she clasped Yuna's hands and said, "I want to be Yuna's guardian." They both smiled and my Summoner turned to look at me. I remained silent, waiting for her query.

"Is that alright?" Yuna asked me, smiling gently and hopefully. Yet again I found myself wishing she knew just _what_ happened to guardians upon reaching Zanarkand. In any case, I shrugged gently.

"You are the Summoner, Yuna. It rests on your shoulders to make the choice."

"I would still value your opinion," she replied, ushering the girl toward me.

I took in a quiet breath as she came close, hands clasped before her and chin downward. I forced myself to stay rooted in place, even as the urge to step away came over me when she came near. The sight of her made me feel...different. Off balance.

She stood before me, eyes resting on something to her side, a slight smile on her lips. Quietly, almost impercetibly, she whispered, _"E ryja y calnad."_

Her use of the foreign language left me stunned. I reached out abruptly and lifted her chin with two gloved fingers. Her somewhat-nervous gaze turned immediately to mine and her lips parted slightly as she saw my face directly. I felt it must have been due to the scars, but a moment later her smile grew and her eyes took on a new light. Admiration, or something like it; I could barely read her. It made me uncomfortable.

Finding myself, I swallowed deeply and wrenched my eye away from her Al Bhed ones. I let my hand drop and nodded. "If it is what you wish to do."

"It is," she responded firmly, turning back to face the rest of them. I watched her walk away and felt my cheeks burning.

Something. I couldn't tell what, but something was off. I needed rest. I started forward, gesturing for the group to follow. They continued their conversations while falling in step behind me.

"Rikku," I heard from behind, and turned to glance over my shoulder to the green eyed girl. She smiled again at me. "My name is Rikku." I saw no need to reply as Yuna explained my identity to her a moment later and I continued on down the dirt road.

It seemed so funny. I would kill for a million of those smiles, and I had no idea why.

* * *

We arrived at Guadosalam in the evening as I had predicted. The fiends had grown more violent as we neared which resulted in a full sprint toward the closed gates of Guadosalam. The Moonflow foliage was known for its paticularly violent brand of fiends, including a mutation created from the souls of angry Yevon soldiers known as a chimera. These we thankfully ran into few of, but the final one left us with not a few scrapes and cuts on our already-tired bodies.

The Guado slammed the gates shut behind us, again activating the barrier that kept the outside world from their tranquil, peaceful city. We were left panting in a tiny hall carved entirely from an ancient, giant tree and were soon approached by an elderly Guado who benevolently offered his arm to Yuna for support. She hesitated, then took it.

"You are Lady Yuna's guardians?" he asked the rest of us. A few nodded. I myself tried my best to blend into the shadows of the wood, remain inconspicuous. I was not safe amongst these Guado, the keepers of souls and the only creatures among Spira who could tell the unsent simply by the feeling and the scent they seemed to give off.

The Guado's eyes were only on me for a second before he waved for us to follow, already beginning his obviously-prepared speech about the wonders of Guadosalam and the Farplane. We walked for some time through the massive oak before it opened up and revealed the interior of the city to us, the crytalline boughs of the forest reaching overhead to form a shell from the outside world.

I turned my gaze to the left, to the road that led to the gates of the Farplane. A shiver ran down my spine and I looked away.

For some reason, _she_ was only a few steps ahead of me looking toward the Farplane as well. Her eyes flickered toward my place for a second before she continued to listen seemingly intently to the Guado's explanation of Guado architecture and their bond with the forest.

Yuna, for her part, looked enthralled with his words and paused him only once to inquire his name. "Tromell Guado," he announced proudly, bowing to us. "I am Maester Seymour's main aide."

"Where is the Maester?" Yuna asked. Tromell gestured to a structure in the distance, a sprawling palace of a building that intertwined with the forest itself. The home of the Maesters past, Seymours own father Jyscal included.

"We will need some time to prepare for our meeting with the Maester," Yuna explained to Tromell gently, removing her arm from his. "Would you show us to the inn and we can find our way to the Maester's home at the agreed upon time?"

Tromell seemed fine with this plan and we were left to our own devices in the inn. Yuna called for each of her guardians to congregate in her room and we did as much. I chose yet again to sit in the corner, half covered in shadow. I would not relax until we emerged from the city the next day.

"I wanted to apologize," Yuna began, seated on her bed and facing each of us. "I know that this detour has cost us some time and I know having Rikku here was not planned."

"You have no reason to be sorry, Yuna," Lulu told her quietly. "We've lost perhaps hours from the Pilgrimage- we'll gain back the lost time quickly."

"All the same. We are a team. I am not your leader, and I should have consulted you all for both decisions." She sighed and smiled. "But here we are and now you all have a chance for rest."

"Not while you speak with him," I growled, nodding in the direction of the Maester's home. "He has a presence none too benign."

"I agree," Tidus spoke up immediately, his face grim.

"Whether he seems to have a hidden agenda or not, it is just a meal we are obligated to share with him, nothing more. And as my guardians I know you will be wary of our surroundings at all times and I trust you to keep any situations that arise in check."

Each of us nodded and she gestured toward the door. "I need time to clean myself up before we meet with the Maester. Could I ask each of you to try to do the same?" Again we nodded and took our leave from Yuna's room, departing to our own quarters. Mine lay closest to the exit and I shut the door firmly behind myself in frustration. The meeting was a bad idea- and our Summoner knew it.

* * *

That night, before dinnner, they strode up the path toward the Farplane.

I followed at the tail of the group, each step heavy on the dirt ground, my eyes anywhere but forward. Rapidly I was ticking through a mental list of ways to escape before they forced me to near the Farplane.

And there was a terrible, heavy, _comforting_ feeling washing over me the closer I drew. It was like a blanket around my shoulders, a mother's loving grasp, a stream of sun-warmed water you played in as a child. I could feel true rest waiting there beyond the gates, and it frightened me.

Finally, we stopped before it, a large sphere of shining blue and the sound of pyreflies laughter echoing from it. Yuna and the boy stepped through slowly, shimmering for a moment before they disappeared from sight. Wakka and Lulu both followed, Kimahri entering behind as a guardian of sorts. The Guado that had led us now departed, leaving myself and the Al Bhed on the steps.

We stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment and then I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye and asked, "Aren't you going in?"

She smiled wistfully and seated herself on the wide railing that guarded from falling into the large pit of black beneath us. "Memories are nice, but that's all they are." Her eyes turned to me and I glanced away in discomfort. "Seeing my mother's ghost won't bring her back."

"Your mother?" I hated small talk. Why was I indulging in it? I sat down on the stairs and stretched my legs out, tensing each muscle and allowing it to relax fully and completely.

"Sekka." She produced an apple from her sidepouch and shined it gently against her shirt. "The double-k runs with the women in my family. Rikku, Sekka, Ikkei..."

Ikkei. She was related to her?

Something occured to me.

"You're Ikkei's niece, aren't you?" I asked, finally looking to her. "And Yuna's cousin."

"You're a bright one," she said, smiling widely and winking at me. Again I looked away in discomfort until she offered me another fresh, shining apple. Hesitating, I took it and bit down into the soft flesh, relishing the taste of the juices flowing down my throat. It occured to me that I had refrained from eating much for a few days now, sustaining myself on scraps of bread I had purchased in Luca days prior. I masked my enjoyment of the fruit in my hand by instead looking out over Guadosalam far below us, away from her gaze.

"And why aren't you entering the Farplane, Sir Auron?" she asked. Every word she spoke had a hint of mischief on it, a light teasing you could only hear if you were truly listening to her. It made the edge of my mouth curl in a half-smile, but I forced this away.

"I have no memories to look back on," I lied, though it was in part true. My childhood consisted of training in Bevelle. The only ghost I would care to see was busy with his daughter at this very moment. The other ghost haunted the world I currently inhabited.

"The Al Bhed have a theory," she mumured, leaning back against a spire that jutted out of the railing at every fifth step, some sort of Guado design I didn't care for. I looked at her then and raised an eyebrow, and she raised one straight back. "You knew I was Al Bhed and still didn't shun me, by the way. I appreciate that." A laugh. "Anyway. The Al Bhed have a theory that all these pyreflies are just reacting to your memories." Everything she said she emphasised with some sort of gesture, wide sweeps of her arms.

"All of what you see in the Farplane? Just memories," she continued, "and dwelling in memories too long isn't healthy. Why don't your relatives and loved ones talk to you? They can't. They're memories, and they're dead."

She fell quiet at this and turned away, and for some time we said nothing, listening to the faint humm of the Farplane's walls behind us. I wanted to reach out and touch her shoulder, but instead crossed my arms against myself and lowered my head to rest.

It could have been minutes or hours later, I had no idea, but eventually the rest of the guardians and my Summoner emerged from the Farplane. The Guado had returned as well, no doubt to escort us to the Maester's residence. I stood to go.

There was a gasp and we each turned. All eyes were locked on the Farplane's entrance and a figure draped in indigo struggling to break free of it's edges. Everyone took a step back in surprise, only Yuna drawing close to it and whispering, "Lord...Jyscal?"

As it struggled against its bonds I felt a burning, searing pain in my body and I collapsed to my knees, biting clean through my own lip in an effort to keep from yelling in agony. I shook violently, hearing only screams in my ears and feeling the blood thudding against my temple. I felt the strange sensation of pyreflies leaving my body, like skin peeling away on a knife's edge, and I looked up to ensure none had seen.

I was wrong. One had. She stared in surprised and, dimly, in horror as my legs finally gave out and I lay against the steps, gazing up at her green eyes and willing her not to say a word.

Events ahead of us continued and she gently stepped to the ground, reaching under my arm and lifting me once more to my knees. Her lips grazed my ear and I heard her faintly whisper, "Stand. Stand before they turn and see."

I got to my feet, placing a hand on the bannister to keep myself aloft, and allowed her to support me in a way that seemed as if she casually stood near me. Yuna began her sending of Jyscal and my eyes widened in fear.

Rikku tugged on my sides and led me toward the stairs, and together we left the group behind before the sending could be completed. I panted with each step, weakness taking over me, and struggled in vain to ask her why she was helping.

"Apparently we both have secrets," she told me quietly, her face a mask of determination. "I don't know why you're the way you are, but you're obviously here for a reason, and so am I." She stopped and turned to face me, gripping my biceps tightly. "Don't tell and I won't either."

Despite myself, I smiled. "You'll see in time, Rikku."

"Forget that. We have to get you away from here...the inn, we'll go back to the inn. They'll think we were just bored."

"You aren't disgusted? Afraid?"

Rikku smiled. "What, because you're unsent? I'm...not disgusted or afraid, no. Just confused. But you show no start of becoming a fiend and your skin under my fingers seems real enough to me. As far as I'm concerned, you're still here."

We continued toward the inn and I smiled wryly. "You're...an enigma."

"Among other things, or so I'm told," she mumbled, and that was all that was said as we entered the inn and she left me alone in my room to my own confused, jumbled thoughts.

* * *

_Hehe, woops!_

_Sadly this one took so long due to a sudden bout of bronchitis (inflammation of the bronchioles, wut wut). It's been sitting 98 edited and waiting to be released, and I finally got my butt in gear today._

_(And to reiterate, though this is a basic novelisation, it's also one that should be considered slightly AU, including happenings and dialogue. ;D)_


	9. Chapter 8: DREAMS

**8. DREAMS**

Having finally found rest for my mind in the solace of being alone, I slept away most of the pain.

I rose sometime later- it could only have been an hour at the most -and readied myself for the dinner as Yuna had asked. I bathed briefly in perfumed water that the Guado supplied to each guest of the inn (feeling that it may do something to mask the scent the Guado were so keenly tuned to) and tied my hair back once more. Glancing briefly in the mirror I smiled, noting that nothing of my appearance had changed, and took special care to raise my collar high past my mouth to cover the worst of the scars.

They departed the inn as a group and I fell into step a short distance behind them, as if I had not been gone at any point. We were ushered into the Maester's residence much like sheep and, after minutes of standing unattended in the foyer, a door near the stairs opened. Seymour stepped through it.

He led us to a banquet hall filled with tables of food and lush flowers and, I noticed immediately, no tables or chairs. "This is to be our 'dinner', then?" I asked, a hint of sarcasm on my voice. "What a lush supper to draw the Summoner away from her journey."

Seymour's eyes narrowed on me the same moment Yuna gasped "Sir Auron!" and dissolved into multiple apologies. I tore my gaze from his stare, so empty it made me uncomfortable, and made my way to the edge of the room. Tidus followed in an act of solidarity and watched Yuna keenly as she spoke with the Maester.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes soon to an hour, and I found myself slumping in the shoulders and leaning back against the crystal wall. My eyes drifted lazily about the room to each group- Wakka and Lulu standing in quiet converse, their faces the usual look of worry; Kimahri watching Yuna with careful eyes as she sat calmly beside Seymour; Tidus and Rikku side-by-side with arms crossed and furrowed brows. This last group I strode towards and I reached through the center of them to a crystalline glass of water on the table, the vessel the very picture of opulence...waste.

Rikku started and turned her head upward to meet my eyes, and she murmured, _"E ryja y pyt vaamehk ypuid drec saadehk."_

I nodded in assent to her words and Tidus cocked his head in confusion before she repeated her words in Spiran to him. I couldn't help but smile at it, our language that only she and I (and possibly Yuna, though I'd not seen her speak it yet) could fluently understand. Somehow it seemed to bond us together with all our secrets, which of itself was ridiculous- myself a dead man and her the very picture of life.

We all looked up as Yuna and Seymour finally stood, and he directed us to the opposite end of the room and through a large door in the corner. He led us into the darkness- I kept a tight grip on the concealed blade beneath my coat at all times -and called something quietly into the distance, directed no doubt to one of his handservants.

Immediately the air flashed to life, pyreflies flashing past our cheeks in a haze of light. Squinting at the sudden visual onslaught, I looked to the ceiling to find a large sphere set in the crystal roof. Somehow Seymour, or someone in his line, had managed to harness the power of a recording sphere and translated it into a moving, three dimensional film of sorts.

The pyreflies dwindled and beneath our feet was an array of lights. I heard the boy gasp beside me and looked to the floor intently.

Zanarkand, in all the glory it had possessed weeks (months? Time was hard to keep track of postdeath) previous. Citizens strode through the streets like a colony of ants, eager to reach their destinations or targets. The room we stood in seemed to act as a capsule, guiding us through the air on a set path, and I stood unmoving and observed all that around me. The dock, with all its houseboats floating calmly in the indigo sea. The lights from the street signs, making it seem perpetually night. The stadium in the distance, statues of fighters forever at the ready before the entrance.

And for a moment, a blonde child clinging in fear to a pale but gentle hand. I looked back as we soared past, but the image was gone in a heartbeat.

Seymour spoke then, leaned over with his mouth near Yuna's cheek and his taloned hands resting gently on her shoulder and arm. I clenched as I saw this, but as she had not yet protested I remained where I stood. Soon the image came to rest in a room, decorated as if for kings, and containing only a ghost.

Yunalesca, reclining languidly on her bed, eyes on the doorway we now stood near. I narrowed my eyes to her and she seemed to gaze deep into me, though I knew it truly was more past me than anything else. My hand drifted gently to my collar, to the scar she had inflicted that had bled me dry.

For some time Seymour spoke only to Yuna, pointing out various points in the 'story' of this room from the past. Soon another figure entered, another ghost, who swept Yunalesca into his arms.

In that moment, a chill tore down my spine as the fading Yunalesca, head resting gently on the new figure's shoulder, opened her eyes and seemed to smile directly at me.

Paranoia from years long past.

The lights came to life once more and we were led out to the banquet hall once more, not by Seymour, but one of his handservants. Yuna remained behind, Seymour saying something intently to her. Before I could protest the two of them alone together I was unceremoniously ushered through the door and back into the foyer. At our group's protestation the doors remained open a crack, but it was painfully obvious that the Guado was saying something his people and servants considered of utmost importance. Something not for outsider ears.

"I don't trust him," Rikku whispered from the corner of her mouth, standing only a few feet away from me. My worry outweighed my relative discomfort in proximity.

"I never did," I replied to her, leaning against the wall in such a way that I could still observe through the tiny crack in the door every gesture Seymour made. "His personality reeks of something hidden."

"I thought so too." Rikku crossed her arms across her chest, her forehead creased in discontent. "And why does he need to talk alone with Yunie?"

I could only shrug.

The Guado servants turned to face her and I at Rikku's words, no doubt briefly catching a hint of conversation on the air. We hushed immediately, sharing a single glance between the two of us. It spoke volumes: Something important, and terrible, was taking place.

Finally, Yuna stepped through the doors to the banquet hall and rushed quickly past us, pausing at the front doors to curtsy shortly to the Guado holding them open for her and to nod behind herself in Seymour's direction as he too emerged. The smile on her face was far too forced. She was scared, it seemed.

I was the last to follow. My steps were halted when, alone in the foyer with only Seymour and his many servants, I heard, "Why are you still here, sir?"

I turned to face Seymour and removed the glasses covering my eyes. His chilling, challenging smile faded as he saw the multiple scars and gashes etched on my skin.

Letting myself smile in an equally chilling and challenging manner, I said in a painfully calm tone, "I have no idea what you mean, Seymour," and left the room.

**  
xXx**

"He asked me to marry him."

Near a secluded fountain in the edge of the enclave, Yuna had finally stopped rushing from us only to sit and wrap both arms around herself.

"What?" Tidus asked deadpan and for the first time he didn't hide in any way his feelings for the Summoner. He looked a mixture of terrified, angry and sickly at once. I felt for him but remained silent, contemplating the news Yuna had just bestowed upon us.

"He said...he said it would make Spira 'happy' to be alive for such a joyous event. That it would make everyone so much more happy than any Blitzball game could. He said...he said we could _lead_ Spira." She laughed- a hint of bitterness on it? -and closed her eyes tightly. "I don't know what to do."

"Say no!" Tidus exclaimed, but was silenced by a wave of Lulu's hand. She sat near Yuna and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her left ear.

"He is probably right," Lulu admitted, smiling sympathetically. "People would be thrilled. It would be something to take away the pain Sin has caused at the end of this last Calm."

"You have a pilgrimage," I finally said, firmly and loud enough that our group all heard and understood. "You have your duty." _You're the only one that can destroy him. You can't give up._ I kept my inner thoughts to myself.

"You could marry and still take part in your pilgrimage." I knew Lulu was merely playing devil's advocate, offering the opposite side of the coin. It did nothing to sooth Yuna's turbulent thoughts.

After some minutes spent waiting for her to reply, Yuna finally stood. "I need to sleep. I can't think about this tonight. I must pray for guidance and rest and...talk to my father."

Our group nodded and together made its way back to the Inn. Rikku surged through to the front and reached out to grip her cousin's hand. The gesture seemed to comfort the Summoner, who murmured something hushed in the special language only she, her cousin and myself apparently shared. I was not close enough to hear her words, nor had I any desire.

Marriage? It had never factored into my plan. Why had I not seen it coming, after all the private words Seymour had been sharing with her since shortly after Luca, at least. All the looks of animal lust he had given her that had given me no other desire than to rend his head from his neck. What an ill-timed proposal.

Each of us took our separate route to reach our private rooms. I could hear, through the wall, the sound of hushed praying- not to any Fayth, but to a friend I'd lost long ago.

**xXx**

That night, I tossed and turned with violent dreams.

At first I was imprisoned once more in the bowels of Bevelle, alone on a caged floor and suspending forever above thrashing waters. With the press of a single switch a prisoner would be cast into the water and left to drown- though it would seem a relief after the weeks of starvation and malnutrition each would have to go through before the monks were done with them.

I would be visited by my intended (and refused). She would laugh at me in my place, taunting me with small stabs to my pride and my skill. Her face would sometimes turn to Yunalesca's and I would cringe and back away, unable to defend from another killing blow.

And then, Zanarkand. I lay broken and battered on a dock in the dead of night, rain pouring down upon me, and where Tidus should have wandered outside to see what was wrong, there was only silence. Despite my slight dislike of the boy, the complete lack of him- and therefore any compassion whatsoever -made my dream self writhe in both physical and emotional pain.

The final dream was one I often expected. Silence on the air. I could hear only my own breath. Darkness all around except for on the suspending platform I now stood.

And she sat before me, idly plaiting her hair over her shoulder, seemingly oblivious to the blood on her hands and coursing down her arms- dried, by now, like heroic marks of battle.

As always, she would never speak to me as I strode toward her. As I neared I could see the trophies wound into the many plaits in her hair- scraps of clothing from those she had sent to their deaths in the name her Lord Zaon. Her newest, completed braid was made up of a mixture of rich purple and striking orange. And even then, she worked on a new one. Crimson.

At that instant she would stop her task, stand and near me. I would try to speak, try to snarl all the obscenities I desired to unleash on her, but it would be as if I were mute.

She then smiles and laughs. She flicks her hair away like a young, precocious teenager.

And then, without a noise, she reaches through my collar, past my skin and muscle and bone, and impales me on her own clawed arm.

I woke at that instant, crying out in a sudden stab of pain long past, and reached forward to grip the neck of my dream vision in an effort for it to stop.

The dream stopped, yes. But the whites of her terrified eyes didn't fade, and no words could get past her air-starved lips, and I realised in a moment of clarity I held not air, not dream, but flesh.

Rikku was choking.

I released my grip on her neck in horror and backed away on the bed. Somehow I had managed to not only sit up while still sleeping, but had seemingly slammed her into the wall by her neck as well.

She coughed, both hands at her neck. She avoided my eyes and I felt a new pang of regret and worry, something I had not felt so strong in at least ten years.

"Are you hurt?" I asked breathlessly, touching her arm gently. She flinched away and got to her feet quickly, taking deep and steady breaths.

Finally able to breathe, Rikku nodded. I could see the red marks on her neck where my hands had lain.

"I'm fine. I heard you...I wasn't just sneaking around or anything." How funny, that I had nearly killed her and yet she seemed more worried about how she was seen rather than how she felt.

"Heard me?" I asked in confusion, lowering my voice as I realised it was still night.

"You were...I don't know, moaning or something. Like a wounded animal."

Sleep revealed all vulnerabilities to the world. I look away from her in shame.

"I was going to wake you. Bad idea, huh?" She smiled and sat on the bed beside me, her brow furrowed. "Were you having a bad dream?"

"Many," I admitted, still ashamed of my show of weakness. "Those memories that you proclaimed were 'so nice' on the Farplane bridge...they are not kind to me."

"I think we all have some of those." An awkward silence followed, and then she set a hand on my bicep and squeezed lightly. "It's okay to let them get the best of us sometimes, you know?"

I said nothing. I could not bring myself to agree with her.

"Anyway, you seem okay now. I just wanted to make sure." She stood to leave.

"Rikku."

She stopped as my hand gripped the wrist of her retreating form. She turned to look back at me expectantly, no fear or horror in her eyes. I wondered if she was merely skilled in deceit or if she truly felt no different after my attack.

"Yes, Auron?" she murmured, smiling. I noticed her omission of my usual 'sir' title, but said nothing about it. In but two days she had managed to make her way into my life in an uncomfortable way and even the most intimate of gestures seemed not as horrifying as before.

"Thank you," I said, lowering my face. "You saved me from my own mind, in a way."

Rikku laughed. "All I did was wake you up, silly. Don't worry about it. I'll be around for quite a while longer. At least long enough to be your personal alarm clock, anyway." She touched a hand gently to her neck. "But no more throttling me, okay? I'm gonna be eating cereal through a straw if you keep that up."

Her injection of humor on the situation did much to ease my guilt. I did nothing more, said nothing more. The discomfort of our friendship-of-sorts left me dumbfounded most of the time, but for once I felt silenced and somewhat humbled instead of the awkwardness.

She left. And for some reason unknown, I felt a pang of longing.

* * *

A/N- The horizontal bars weren't working for me, so I was forced to go back to an old style of page break I used to use. Reviews appreciated. :)

+Al Bhed Translation: "I have a bad feeling about this meeting."


	10. Chapter 9: PAIN

**9. PAIN**

Having found her answer amongst her prayers and rest, Yuna sought Seymour the morning following his proposal. We were informed that the Maester, hoping to give Yuna some time for thought, had continued on his way to the temple at Lake Macalania where he served as head overseer.

"I suppose that's convenient. It's on our way," Yuna said as our group made its way toward the rear gates to the city that would lead us down yet another tunnel through one of the many trees and finally to the Thunder Plains, the next step on her pilgrimage. Tidus tried in vain to contain his elation that her answer was delayed for at least a few more days. A few days in which to convince her otherwise, perhaps, but that would be up to him. I could see her answer in the way she shyly and with not a bit of sorrow looked to Tidus from the corner of her eyes, or the way she continued to touch her ring finger as if it were already weighed down. For not the first time since Seymour's proposal she seemed unbearably sad.

I, myself, was having mixed emotions. I was left essentially in charge of a group of strangers, most of which I had developed the desire to protect. Not that any of them needed it, of course, but it was no doubt a vestigial feeling left over from my former companions. I couldn't protect Braska and Jecht, so I would protect their offspring.

Perhaps that, or I couldn't escape the sense of duty the warrior monks of Bevelle had instilled in me, and my feelings were no more than an assignment of sorts.

Thunder in the distance brought me back to the present. I gripped the sword at my side and stood tensed and ready, the electricity on the air raising hair on the back of my neck. "No more thinking about the past two days," I instructed the group. "Now we must be ready for action."

We left the safety of crystalline Guadosalam and stepped out into the darkness of the Thunder Plains. Above us, black sky swirled around itself, a maelstrom of never ending bad weather. At least a few hundred feet ahead (if not further) was the first lightning rod tower and I steered us toward it.

Halfway there, I realized our group was short one. I gazed around, brow furrowed, and asked, "Where is Rikku?" When no one could supply an answer- and the thunder was rumbling yet again in an ominous, foretelling manner -I gestured for them to continue to the tower. "I will find her and regroup with you. Rest and drink your water- it's a long walk."

I turned around and strode quickly back toward the gates, my eyes scanning the horizon. How she had managed to lose herself in such an acrid, bare landscape I had no idea-

And there she was, standing stock still just inside the entrance, flinching with every flash of light.

"Rikku!" I called to her. She glanced over to me and hazarded a small smile.

"Oh, you came back for me. You didn't have to. I was going to catch up when the storm died down." Her words shook ever so slightly.

"We don't have time for this," I explained, reaching for her arm and ushering her outside. She dug her heels in to stay and I cast an impatient, frustrated look in her direction.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"I...just can't."

"Then stay." I let her arm go and started away, but felt her hand reach out to grip my overcoat. Sighing, I turned back to her. "Yes?"

"It's the thunder." She looked to the ground. "When I was little I was swimming in a pond near our home with my brother. He was...just getting into black magic around then, just learning it. I kept telling him to just come play with me instead, but he was adamant he show me what he'd learned. He tried to hit a tree with the thundaga spell..."

The thunder went off like a snap, echoing around the plains and near deafening both of us. Rikku pulled herself against the safety of my loose sleeve and shut her eyes until it ceased. "He hit me instead. In the water. I nearly died. It wasn't his fault, he just made a mistake. I can't stand lightning or thunder anymore."

"There are towers-"

"But they're so far apart. And...fiends are in between."

"We run, then."

Before she could protest I gripped her wrist tightly and surged forward, running across the plain for no reason other than a young girl's fears. Rikku let out a shriek as she stumbled along behind, her eyes shut tightly as she gave herself over to me with complete trust.

I put out a hand to stop myself as we reached the lightning tower, my palm halting our speed quickly. Rikku stepped back from me, shaking and breath coming in short pants.

Our eyes met, hers in palpable anger and mine devoid of any reaction. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, then opened it once more.

"You made it," I said quickly, cutting off her flurry of anger. And again, before she could speak, I pointed toward the second tower where our group had opted to continue on. "We're behind."

"I can't!"

I tilted my head slightly and my one good eye met hers. "You just did."

Despite herself, despite her anger, Rikku's mouth quirked for a quarter of a second and she quickly looked away.

"...I suppose I did."

* * *

We walked at a quick pace in silence with Rikku's hands ever present on my billowing, unused sleeve. Though she now walked with a more assured gait she still flinched with every clap of thunder or flash of lightning.

I had lost sight of our traveling companions quite some time ago and surmised they had finally reached the inn that was still some distance away for myself and Rikku. There was a simultaneous discomfort and warm feeling in my chest, and I wished for nothing more than a warm bed and release from my weighty garments. My shoulders had begun to ache from the overcoat and the sword at my hip weighed me down considerably.

Pausing to sit beneath yet another tower to sip our water (or, in my own case, from my flask), Rikku asked me, "When did you pass away?"

The question hit me like a punch to the chest. I swallowed deeply and turned to her. "That is not a question you should be asking me, Rikku."

She showed only a slight bit of shame, but didn't look away. "It's just that, you look kind of young...your eyes, I mean. As if you body kept aging, but you're completely opposite on the inside."

I touched a gloved finger to my closed eye and smiled mirthlessly. "Trust me, that is not the case."

"Maybe you think so," she said stubbornly, settling back against the tower and staring up at the overhang that protected us from the elements. "I think you're wrong."

"I imagine I know myself far better than you, Rikku."

"No one really knows their 'selves' better than those around them. I don't think so, anyway. Self-loathing or hurt or madness or any of that, all of it can affect how we see ourselves." She smiled to me. "I see a young guy in your eyes- well, eye. I see someone who has no idea what life is all about."

I chose not to indulge her theories and stood instead. Part of me bristled with slight anger at her words. I had been alive far longer than she-

Except that I hadn't lived that much longer than her and, were I to discount my days of walking death, I still stood a man of 25 blindly following the loudest voice of reason.

I shook it off and reached for her forearm. "Come."

We indulged in no more conversation, focusing instead on our run toward the inn. It shone like a beacon through the dark and I relaxed as we neared, the thought of rest tantalizing at the front of my mind.

And then a three-headed chimera, something out of nightmares, landed in our path and let out a flame-tinged roar.

Our momentum too great, I dropped to my hip and dug the side of my boot into the ground, my arms wrapping protectively around the blonde at my side. We stopped mere inches from the chimera and I rose to my feet instantly, pulling her toward cover. A rock to the side offered enough cover for me to push her against the wall and murmur "Stay," before I drew my sword and sprinted back out to meet the creature.

I swung my blade hard against its left hind leg. It made a superficial gash in the thick hide and the chimera seemed not to be affected at all, instead swatting its paw toward me. It hit me like five tons of stone, stealing away the air in my lungs, but rather than falling I dug in each heel and forced the hand back against itself. An audible snap from the wrist drew a cry of rage and pain from the chimera.

My moment of triumph was interrupted by a pair of massive jaws clamping down onto my waist. The pain blinded me for a time, a cry escaping my mouth, and then my anger took over and the tip of my sword met one of the three heads directly, cutting through sinew and bone into the brain.

The feline head drooped lifelessly, releasing me from its maw, eliciting another growl and moan from the remaining maw. The central brain, the one that would kill it, stood protected between two twisting bulls horns.

I lay there a moment, feeling a burn from the puncture wounds in my stomach. Dimly I noticed a pyrefly float up from my abdomen and, shaking my head, got up.

About to lunge, the chimera was surprised as a small figure landed atop the hump on its back where each head joined into one body. In her hand was a claw the length of her forearm, which she dug deeply into the junction at the spine. The fiend roared in protest and reached aimlessly for her as the claw dug deeper and deeper.

Finally the serpent-like tail, imbued with electricity, latched on to her small ankle and struggled to pull her away. Her weapon was too deep and it pulled in vain. Instead, the serpent opted for another plan of attack. Wrapping around her calf it released several bolts of electricity directly into her skin.

Rikku screamed, finally relinquishing her grip on the weapon. The tail easily whipped her to the side and let go, sending her tumbling back toward the stone I had left her behind.

I grit my teeth and sprinted toward it, leaping at the last second and launching my sword at it like a spear. Focusing on this new threat, it failed to notice my hand clenching the tiny grip of the claw tightly. I planted my feet against the back, pulled the claw free, and drove it through the rear of the center head.

Only a few moments protest and then the creature fell to the ground, taking me with it. As it slumped forward I pushed away, avoiding the crushing weight of the carcass and almost immediately rushing toward her.

"Rikku," I gasped, now again aware of my abdominal wounds. She lay still, her skin somewhat burnt in small patches here and there. An entire mark where the snake had been wrapped was burnt onto her leg.

Cursing her foolishness, I rose to my feet with her in my arms and started my run toward the inn. It looked close, but as I began to limp from the pain it seemed to draw further and further away. After what seemed like ages I collapsed to one knee before the closed door and gasped for air.

The door opened before us. There stood another Al Bhed, his tan skin standing out starkly against the bright exterior.

"Rin." I almost smiled. The very one who laid me down to die had now found me, yet again, half dead on his doorstep.

"Sir Auron?" he said, his tone that of confusion. Belatedly he realized I was not alone and pulled Rikku from my arms in a rush. "Fetch a healer!" he yelled toward the front desk, spiriting Rikku up the stairs to an empty room.

All eyes on Rin's form as he strode past, the other patrons failed to notice as I collapsed to my face in the doorway. Falling into a deep sleep, my last waking thought dwelled on the sword I had left buried in the neck of the dead chimera.

* * *

Some time later I woke with a groan, cracking open my good eye ever-so-slightly. It was still dark, a candle the only light in the room I had been placed.

I tried to sit up but was forced back by a firm hand. Still weak, I complied.

"I'm never listening to you again," a quiet voice told me, hoarse with some vestiges of pain. "You always get us into trouble."

Before I could answer I felt the cold metal of a sword hilt in my palm.

"Then again...I kind of like that."

I smiled and fell into rest once more.


End file.
